EAST DENNIS, Mass., — July 23, 2013 — Oysters and equipment worth thousands of dollars were stolen from a 1-acre shellfish grant on the tidal flats at Crowes Pasture last week in what officials say may be an unfortunate trend on the Cape.
James Ward said 40 plastic cages containing 12,000 oysters were stolen. He sells his oysters wholesale locally under the name Cape Cod Bay Oysters for about 60 cents each. The value of the oysters and trays is easily more than $10,000, he said.
Police are asking that anyone with information about oyster thefts contact Detective Matt Turner at 508-394-1315.
While officials are still looking for the thief or thieves, Ward said Monday he's pretty sure it is someone in the oyster business. It's the second time his grant, one of 31 in a grid off Crowes Pasture, has been hit this season.
"Logic would dictate that since they skipped around and they only took the 100 percent mature oysters," he said. "They also took my gear."
Ward had the trays secured on all four corners with heavy zip ties, which had been clipped and left in the sand.
"It would take a very large truck to take all the trays at once," he said. "And it would probably take more than one person since that truck would be packed to the gills."
A truck can be driven out to the oyster grants at low tide.
Ward lost 4,500 oysters in the previous theft the week after Memorial Day, when five of the Crowes Pasture grants had oysters stolen, Dennis Shellfish Constable Christopher Southwood said.
"There were 6,000 to 10,000 stolen that time," he said. All were mature and ready for market.